Food, family and memories are as intertwined in the South as if woven on the same thread. At any function we attend, from a party to a wedding to a funeral, we are as likely to talk as much about the food that was there, as we are about why we are gathered. ~Mary Foreman

I'm your cook, not your doctor. ~PAULA DEEN

I found out what the secret to life is: friends. Best friends. ~Ninny Threadgoode

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

A great spaghetti sauce, made with onion, garlic, stewed and Rotel tomatoes, Italian and Cajun seasonings, and a little help from canned sauce, but tastes like you cooked it from scratch.

Easy Semi-Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

In the mood for spaghetti with a homemade taste, but that doesn't have to simmer all day long? Okay, so yes, you do get a little head start with canned pasta sauce to start with so I guess you can call this "semi-homemade," BUT... once you add in some very simple but transforming enhancements, you will end up with something that tastes as if you made the sauce from scratch and simmered it on the stove for hours. I've been making my spaghetti sauce like this for years, and The Cajun loves it!

True, there is nothing that can match a sauce that is made from fresh home grown or store- bought, in-season tomatoes and low simmered on the stove all day long, but what to do when tomatoes aren't in season? Or, if you don't have that kind of time?

Canned pasta sauces are cheap to use, and you can pretty much use just about any brand, however, that doesn't mean that you want to just dump the sauce in a pot, add the meatballs and serve it over spaghetti noodles! Just a little extra effort will make a major difference, and if nobody's lookin' to see you pop open the cans, they'll think you slaved over a hot stove for hours. The secret, will be yours to keep.

If you don't have pre-made meatballs on hand, the recipe I have been using since the beginning of time for basic homemade meatballs is right here. Just allow time for the preparation. In fact, double or even triple the batch, cook them and then lay them out on a baking sheet in the freezer. Once frozen you can transfer them to a large zipper freezer bag and then you'll have your own premade meatballs for another time!

But, to be honest, if you don't have pre-made meatballs, a meat sauce is equally good, super speedy, and for that, all you have to do is brown your ground beef up in the same pot you cooked the onion and garlic in. Then add whatever tomatoes and/or canned pasta sauce you are using and let it cook on a medium simmer for at least 30 minutes, or up to several hours on a low simmer if you have the time.

You can also start this sauce the night before, or the morning you want to make it for dinner, and then dump it in the crockpot and let it simmer on low all day (8 to 10 hours) in your crockpot while you're at work or running errands! When you get home, dump in the cooked meatballs and turn it to high for about 30 minutes, or until they are heated through. If using commercial frozen meatballs, be sure to allow them to thaw, otherwise they take days to thaw in the slow cooker. For meat sauce, this is especially fast if you have stored some pre-browned ground beef in your freezer. However you do this, it's a fast and delicious spaghetti that is both man-pleasin' and kid-pleasin' and tastes like it took much more effort than it really did.

I keep a wide variety of canned tomatoes as pantry staples all the time - tomato paste, sauce, stewed and diced tomatoes, Rotel, whole, pureed, fire roasted, and cheap, canned pasta sauce, all are common staples in my house. I like to start my spaghetti sauce with a large can or two of cheap canned pasta sauce, rather than using only plain tomato sauce, because it's slightly sweetened and contains some seasonings already, but I have used a combination of many different tomatoes as well, so mix it up!

Here's what you need to totally transform a can (or jar) of off-the-shelf spaghetti sauce, and make it with your own 'homemade.' Grab some olive oil, 1 medium sweet or yellow onion, 3 cloves of garlic, 1/2 a teaspoon of Italian seasoning, 2 bay leafs, dash of red pepper flakes, 2 large cans of pasta sauce, 1 can stewed tomatoes, cooked meatballs OR 1 pound of ground beef and a package of thin spaghetti noodles.

Chop the onion.

And saute it in some olive oil in a large saucepan or pot. You'll be doing the whole sauce in this same pot.

Once the onion has cooked down soft, but not caramelized, add the chopped garlic. Cook that for about 3 or 4 minutes.

Gather the seasonings - 1/2 teaspoon of dried Italian seasoning, 1/2 teaspoon of Cajun seasoning, 2 bay leaves, and a couple dashes of red pepper flakes. If you have fresh herbs in your garden, absolutely use them here instead of using the dried seasoning.

Add the seasonings in with the onion and garlic.

And stir them in well, allowing the flavors to cook and meld together for a few minutes.

If you are making a meat sauce, this is where you will add in the raw ground beef and brown it before adding the tomatoes and sauce. If you're crocking it, once you brown the meat, transfer it to the crockpot and add everything in there. Otherwise, add in the can of stewed tomatoes, Rotel if you're using it (you can just sub in another can of diced or stewed tomatoes), or whatever combination of tomatoes you have on hand. Feel free to experiment and mix up the tomatoes you use for your sauce, whatever you have - stewed, diced, whole, crushed, fire roasted, your own recipe, and certainly any from the garden you happened to have put up!

... and let them cook for about 5 minutes.

Now add in the spaghetti sauce, if you're using it. I have used Del Monte Traditional canned spaghetti sauce for years because the flavor is excellent, it's got a little sweetness and seasoning to it already, and it's cheap - but I've used Hunt's, even generic - whatever is on sale - it all works fine, just don't spend a lot of money because you are only using this as your base.

Stir it all in together, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes to several hours, stirring a few times in between. If cooking this in a crockpot, I wait to add the cooked meatballs in right before I am ready to serve it, then crank it to high, cover it and let it cook for about another 30 minutes, just enough to thoroughly warm through the meatballs. Be sure to use thawed meatballs if you're using the commercial ones because the frozen ones will take way to look to cook through.

On the stovetop, when I am serving this with meatballs, I like to let the sauce simmer by itself first and then add in the cooked meatballs right before serving. Stir in the meatballs, return to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about 25 to 30 minutes, or according to the directions on your package of meatballs if you are using prepacked meatballs. If you're in a hurry, just add the meatballs right after you add the tomatoes, since the sauce really only has to simmer 30 minutes, about the same time the meatballs are heated through.

When the meatballs are just about ready, get a pot of water going for the pasta. Large pot, lots of water and salt the pot generously! This is where people make the biggest mistake when they cook pasta. They either way under season the water for the pasta or they don't season it at all! Believe me, it does make a difference. You need about 3 very generous pinches of kosher salt. Bring the water to a full rolling boil and add the salt. (If you add the salt first, the water will take longer to boil)

Now, I'm not very fond of the regular whole wheat pastas much - kinda depends on the brand really. But, I LOVE the Barilla Plus pastas. They really are good all on their own in any pasta dish.

But... sometimes I mix my pasta! I'll use half a package of the regular spaghetti noodles and half Barilla Plus. Then, what I like to do is snap the noodles in half while holding them over the pot. This way they still look like whole spaghetti noodles, but they are easier to manage with a twirl of the fork! Gotta twirl your pasta, right?

Cook the pasta according to the package directions for al dente, drain and return the noodles to the pasta pot. See, it looks like any regular old pasta now doesn't it? Trust me, you can pull this off with your family! Give it a shot and see what happens.

Put the noodles back into the pasta pot, pull about 3 scoops of the sauce out of the sauce pot.

Heat the oil over medium heat in a large saucepan or a small stockpot. Add the onion and cook until softened. Add the garlic and continue cooking for about 3 or 4 minutes. Add the Italian seasoning, Cajun seasoning, 2 bay leaves, and a couple dashes of red pepper flakes, stir in and cook for about 2 minutes. If you are making a meat sauce instead of using meatballs, add the ground beef here and cook until browned.

Add the diced or stewed and Rotel tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes. Add the 2 cans of spaghetti sauce, bring to a boil, reduce to a medium simmer and cook covered for 30 minutes. If using meatballs, stir to mix in well, cover and cook an additional 25 minutes, or per the package instructions.

Place water for pasta in a tall stockpot, cover and bring to a boil, and season very generously with 3 generous pinches of kosher salt. Cook the pasta according to the package direction for al dente, drain and return to the pasta pot. Scoop out some of the spaghetti sauce and add it to the spaghetti noodles. Stir until pasta is well coated. Transfer spaghetti noodles to a platter and top with additional sauce and meatballs.

Cook's Notes: I like Del Monte canned sauce, however Hunt's is another brand I use. While I usually start with a canned spaghetti sauce, I certainly do and have used a mixture of stewed, diced, whole, fire roasted, my own Creole tomato recipe made from my garden harvest, and certainly any nice tomatoes you happened to have put up will do. Feel free to experiment and mix up the tomatoes you use for your sauce.

For the Crockpot: If making meat sauce, saute the veggies and brown the meat, then add to the crockpot with all of the remaining ingredients. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. For meatballs, I recommend waiting to add the cooked meatballs in until about 30 minutes before you plan to serve dinner. Turn the crockpot up to high and continue cooking for about 30 minutes or until meatballs are thoroughly warmed through. If using commercial meatballs, thaw before adding.

Tip: If you'd ever had the occasion to end up with watery spaghetti on your plate, the culprit is likely the wet pasta. Don't rinse the pasta, make sure you give it time to drain really well, and don't build the casserole until it is dry and stops steaming. That steam can create condensation and thus water in the finished dish. Also, you can transfer the pasta back to the hot, but empty, cooking pot and place it back over the turned off burner. The residual heat from the burner and the pot will help to dry the water out of the pasta.

The leftover meatballs from this sauce make a fantastic meatball sub sandwich! Warm the meatballs in the microwave, just enough to take the chill off. Preheat the broiler. Get a good French roll or sub roll, open it up, cut a few meatballs in half and lay them on the roll. Be generous! Spoon a little sauce on top of the meatballs. Cover with sliced mozzarella cheese and place under the broiler just long enough to toast bread and melt the cheese. For a softer roll, warm the meatballs in the microwave and prepare as above except wrap tightly in aluminum foil. Place into a preheated 350 degree oven for 20 to 30 minutes or until warmed completely through. Save some leftover sauce and meatballs, pair it up with some refrigerated pasta for a delicious dish that'll impress your guests.

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27 comments:

I've never made meatballs before (ok, not quite true, I tried chicken balls once, and it didn't work very well) but I get some ground meat in my food co-op box this weekend, so I'll be giving these a shot! Think I can make a large batch and freeze the leftovers? (raw)

Hey Krystal - you sure can! They are a great make ahead item - raw or cooked. Just do the same thing. Put them on a baking sheet with parchment paper or a light coating of non-stick spray and stick them in the freezer. Once they're frozen solid put them in a marked freezer bag so you know that they aren't cooked.

Enjoy Nana! I usually make the meat sauce - it's just faster, but when I did meatballs I usually did homemade. Now that I've been getting the Angel Food Ministries boxes, and these premade meatballs are pretty regular in the boxes, I haven't had to make any! For some reason men and kids love having the meatballs and you can buy the precooked meatballs at the grocery store too of course, but this way done with just the meat sauce is also excellent. (if I don't say so myself!)

My grandmother used to make this wonderful sauce so I got online and was looking for a sauce recipe that was similar! This looks like it is almost like it. I am cooking dinner for my boyfriend and his 15 yr old daughter tonight so I hope they like it! Thanks so much for posting this!!

I made this tonight for dinner, but I had to do a little doctoring. The reason being that it tasted so spicy to me. I did use Rotel tomatoes, but I thought I used mild. It was wonderful and as usual everyone loved it. I made your meatball recipe too. What a yummy dinner. This is another keeper!Michelle

Hey Michelle! You're welcome. This has been my long time spaghetti recipe forever. You know, I swear I think those "original" Rotel tomatoes have gotten way spicier than they used to be. I used to use the original all the time but I mostly use the mild version anymore depending on what I'm using them for, for that very reason. That's a good basic meatball recipe too - stay tuned though, I have another version coming up soon!

Hey Mary! I love all things spicy, but I have found that my stomach cannot take the heat as well as it used to. Middle age sucks. Now I know what my Mom was complaining about twenty years ago! Still gonna follow the recipe...just need mylanta before bed! BwahahaTeresa

Knock on wood Teresa, I'm still able to eat spicy foods (so far) although sometimes I admittedly get carried away with the seasonings even myself! You could totally leave the Cajun seasoning & red pepper flakes out and also sub in regular tomatoes for the Rotel - it's still good!

Hi! I love this website! Absolutely love it! I wanted to tell you that the Del Monte sauce can be found at Dollar Trees. I worked in one for 3 years and it was something that most if not all Dollar Trees carry, I think we had 3 or 4 varieties! Happy Eats :-)

Hi! I love this website! Absolutely love it! I wanted to tell you that the Del Monte sauce can be found at Dollar Trees. I worked in one for 3 years and it was something that most if not all Dollar Trees carry, I think we had 3 or 4 varieties! Happy Eats :-)

Mary, I'm gonna give you a little tip here, from a lady from Rome, Italy. I FINALLY got an authentic recipe for meatballs and spaghetti!! She says to NEVER cook the meatballs before you put them in the sauce...to drop them in the sauce and let them cook, then skim the fat off of the top before serving. Ever since I started doing this, I have fallen in love with Spaghetti and Meatballs, which before, was just another dish, served during the week. It truly makes all the difference in the world, and your meatballs will melt in your mouth! :) Love all of your recipes, Mary! Thank you for sharing with all of us!

Hi again Mary. The recipe sounds really good. I am gonna try the sauce & the meatballs (much easier than mine), but I have to cook the meatballs the way I always do. When sauce is simmering carefully drop uncooked meatballs in. It gives the sauce more flavor & a better texture for the mb's. I used to hate meatballs until cooking this way.

Hi Mary, was at a loss as to what to fix for supper Wed. nite. I knew if I went to your site, I would find something, and I did. I made your spaghetti, and it was GOOD!!!! Hubby doesn't care for it, but I made it anyway, and he had to admit it was good, just to warm, spicewise. The spice I used was ground red pepper flakes, and all I used was 1/2 tsp., and it was a little to warm. I had a jar of Prago? sauce in the cabinet, and stewed tomatoes. Thats the only change I made, and I simmered it a couple hours. That is my go to recipe now when I want a good pot of spaghetti, I am still shocked that hubby actually liked it too. Thank you for posting all those good recipes that help make me a better cook!!!!!! :)

OMG!!! Sounds delicious!!! To me, this would be HOMEMADE!! I think a true Italian would flinch at "snap the noodles in half" but that's how my Mom always did it!! When I read that I could just see her over the stove doing that! If Momma did it..then it's the way to do it!! Don't tell me my Momma was wrong anyone! PINNING THIS!!

I wish I could find Slap Ya Mama in a store. I don't want to order one on line. I've bought a sauce in a specialty store before but never seen the dry. Also, do you own the Microwave Grill Pan I saw advertised?

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